


Père Noël - Christmas at Kings Row

by Keep_Calm_And_Expecto_Patronum



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: Bad French, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Fencing, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Rubber Ducks, Seiji Speaks Fluent French, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-18 09:17:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16992249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keep_Calm_And_Expecto_Patronum/pseuds/Keep_Calm_And_Expecto_Patronum
Summary: Nicholas and Seiji spend the Christmas holidays at Kings Row Boys School although neither of them are in a particularly festive mood.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [a_thousand_deaths](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_thousand_deaths/gifts).



> This story was written as part of the FENCE Secret Santa 2018 for @athousandeaths on tumblr and was inspired by the prompt, 'Nicholas finally gets Seiji to smile'. I really hope you enjoy the story, it was a lot of fun to write!
> 
> Now, it's important to note that since only 12 issues of FENCE have been released at this point, I'm taking a lot of liberties with the plot and background story of the main characters. I might update the tags later to make this an Alternate Universe, but until we know more about the canon, I'll let my imagination run wild!
> 
> I'd also like to thank my beta [ BrandonStrayne ](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrandonStrayne/pseuds/BrandonStrayne) for all of your help, especially since you're unfamiliar with the fandom. I hope I've managed to convince you to give the comics a read through ;) 
> 
> I'll let you read the story in peace now. Enjoy!

 

_'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house_  
_Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse…_

 

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. Nicholas had lain awake most of the evening mulling over the events of the previous few days.

 

When he first came to Kings Row Boys School four months ago, it would be fair to say that his and Seiji Katayama’s relationship had been a little acrimonious. The fight they’d had in the equipment closet a few weeks into their first term flashed through his mind and he couldn’t help but smile — okay, perhaps their relationship extended beyond a friendly rivalry. He hoped that they might be friends as well as rivals. Now though, after what had happened in recent days…

 

Nicholas sighed heavily and rolled over to face the rubber duck shower curtain that divided their bedroom in two. He wasn’t sure anymore what the hell they were. He wondered if Seiji was lying awake on the other side of the partition like he was, pondering the same questions.

 

Probably not, he reasoned. He’d be up soon for his usual morning routine. He probably slept soundly, laser-focused as always on the task at hand: Fencing. And winning. And beating Nicholas. He grudgingly admired Seiji’s unwavering dedication, it was more than a sport, it was a way of life. Of course, he wouldn’t spare a second thought for Nicholas since he didn’t factor into winning competitions.

 

Feeling restless, he sighed again and rolled onto his back to stare up at the dark ceiling, wondering how the hell he had gotten here. He’d spent countless sleepless nights musing about certain great fencers and how desperately he sought their approval and recognition. For the first time in his life, however, the spectre in his dreams had black hair and strikingly dark eyes to match.

 

Christ, he thought mournfully as he rubbed his tired eyes. How did you get in this mess?

 

* * *

 

_One week earlier_

 

“Are you sure that you don’t want to come home with me for the holidays?” Bobby offered for what must have been the hundredth time. “It’s really no trouble, you know.”

 

Bobby and Nicholas stood at the wrought iron, gated entrance to Kings Row Boys School watching as most of the other students bid farewell to their friends before heading home for the Christmas holidays. Harvard had waved them both off before leaving with Aiden, giving Nicholas a firm reminder that the holidays were no excuse to shirk his training. He had assured him that Coach Williams had already been on his case about it and that he wouldn’t be stuffing his face with too many snickerdoodles over the Christmas break. Which was a lie, of course, he’d managed to pilfer a large box of the delicious treats from the kitchens a few nights previously, but what Harvard didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

 

Nicholas gave Bobby an appreciative smile but declined, “I really appreciate the offer, but I’m happy staying here. It gives me a chance to use all of the equipment while you guys are away.”

 

Bobby, however, looked unconvinced. He raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. “Are you sure?”

 

“I’m positive,” Nicholas replied a little more firmly. He glanced over Bobby’s shoulder to see his mother and grandmother waiting for him by their SUV. The snow was getting heavier and he felt a little guilty that they had been left waiting for the boys to negotiate their goodbyes. He clapped Bobby jovially on the shoulder. “You go and have a great Christmas with your family. I’ll see you in a few days time.”

 

Bobby threw his arms around Nicholas and pulled him into a tight hug, which he gladly returned. Despite all of his protestations, he was really going to miss his friend over the holidays.

 

“You’re always welcome in my home, remember that,” he whispered in Nicholas’ ear before pulling away. Nicholas had made a point of not talking too in-depth about his life before arriving at Kings Row, a fact that wasn’t lost on Bobby, but he had chosen not to pry too deeply into the matter, which Nicholas appreciated immensely. Still, he had always made it clear to his friend that he was there for him if he ever needed him, even if it was just to talk. He hiked his heavy travel bag up onto his slim shoulder and took a half-step away from Nicholas, looking incredibly reluctant to leave him. “You’re sure I can’t tempt you with my Abuelita’s peach melba?”

 

Nicholas chuckled and shook his head. “I’m good. Thanks, though.”

 

Accepting defeat, Bobby gave a casual shrug. “Your loss, then! Text me if you need anything.”

 

“Will do.” Nicholas waved off his best friend and family as their car pulled out of the driveway, around the corner past a long line of conifer trees, and out of sight. The last few stragglers were hurrying away now as the snow began to beat down on Nicholas’ head, the black wool hat he wore already sodden and cold. Pulling his coat closer to his neck in a vain effort to protect himself from the cold, he turned on his heel and traipsed up the long path back towards Castello Dormitory, each footstep crunching under the gravel and snow.

 

The weather matched his mood: cold and miserable. Already he was regretting his decision to stay at the school over the holidays instead of taking Bobby up on his offer. If he were perfectly honest with himself, he had rather liked the idea of staying with Bobby’s family over the Christmas holidays. He had never experienced a ‘normal’ Christmas with a loving family as most of his previous Christmases had been spent at foster homes and, unsurprisingly, they had always been rather muted affairs. He vaguely remembered spending one with his mom, but he was too small to remember it all that well. He usually got a card from her on his birthdays and at Christmas, but most of the time she was too busy to visit. Or so she said. Not that Nicholas let it bother him, of course...he wasn’t the festive type anyway.

 

He kicked the snow off of his boots on the stone steps outside the Castello building before pushing open the heavy security door, his thoughts returning to Bobby. As nice as it was to think about spending Christmas with his friend and his family, Nicholas couldn’t help but be a little intimidated at the thought of being in their company for an extended period of time. Not that he thought that they would be unkind to him—he knew that they would be more than hospitable. They would make him feel right at home, like one of the family.

 

A perfectly normal family.

 

It was their normalcy that intimidated him so much. Normality was a foreign concept to Nicholas and the more he thought about how normal they were the more abnormal he began to feel by comparison. As the festive holidays drew nearer, so did Nicholas’ apprehension; he didn’t want them to realize how out of place he really was being there and regret inviting him into their home in the first place. So in the end, he had talked himself out of going and decided it was probably for the best if he just stayed away. Bobby had been disappointed and a little hurt at Nicholas’ seemingly sudden change of heart, but he had assured Nicholas that it was okay and that he was still welcome if he ever changed his mind.

 

So here was Nicholas, one of only a handful of students to remain at Kings Row over the Christmas break, and as far as he could tell, he was completely alone in the Castello building. He smiled to himself—maybe there would be some perks to staying here after all. His reasons for staying behind hadn’t been entirely insincere: he really was looking forward to having free rein of the fencing equipment. And more importantly, he’d have two blissful weeks free from Seiji.

 

Pushing open the door to Room 108, he scanned his small bedroom, a wide grin spreading across his face. For the next two weeks, this wasn’t his and Seiji’s room, it was his room, and his alone.

 

“Mine,” he whispered gleefully, tearing back the rubber duck shower curtain. He switched on his [ iPod](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEjU9KVABao) and turned the volume up loud on his speaker, revelling in the fact that Seiji wouldn’t be there to complain about the noise. Climbing up onto his bed, he began to bounce up and down in time with the music, enjoying the little bubble of happiness and freedom swelling up inside of him. He could play his music as loudly as he liked, use as much water in the shower as he wanted and keep his night light on without having to listen to complaints from his grumpy roommate and fencing rival. He felt like Christmas had come early this year.

 

It wasn’t that he didn’t like Seiji. They were fierce rivals on the piste but Coach Williams insisted that they brought out the best in each other. And despite their shaky start, they had struck up a tentative friendship over time. Okay, Seiji was pretty annoying most of the time, but they were technically friends now. Still, Nicholas delighted in the fact that he could now step over the invisible barrier splitting their room in two without fear of retribution. He pulled off his snow-covered hat and tossed it across the room onto Seiji’s bed and chuckled to himself—no Seiji here to complain about that, either! Throwing caution to the wind, he jumped from his bed onto Seiji’s, laughing as he bounced and twisted in the air, messing up the perfectly made bed, knowing that his roommate would be none the wiser.

 

The bedroom door slammed shut and as Nicholas turned to see who had entered the room, his feet got tangled up in the quilt cover and he fell backward onto the bed.

 

“Oof!” he exclaimed, landing hard on the springy mattress. He looked up and felt his stomach twist as he saw a bemused figure looming over him.

 

“Seiji,” he choked. “What are you doing here?”

 

“What are you doing on my bed?” he snapped, his dark eyes glinting dangerously. Nicholas braced himself for the inevitable fist in his face but instead, a strong pair of hands grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him up onto his feet before pushing him back over to his designated side of the bedroom. Nicholas stumbled and fell back onto his own bed, staring at Seiji in disbelief as he proceeded to remake his bed. What the hell was he doing here?

 

“I thought you were going home for Christmas,” he stammered.

 

“What gave you that impression?” asked Seiji, throwing his quilt into the air and laying it precisely over the bed. Nicholas shrugged.

 

“I dunno. Everyone else is, so I just thought…”

 

“You thinking? I find that very hard to believe,” he sneered, puffing up and straightening his pillows. Ignoring the jibe, Nicholas pressed on.

 

“Why aren’t you going home for the holidays?”

 

“Why aren’t you?” he countered.

 

“None of your business,” Nicholas replied hotly, crossing his arms.

 

“There’s your answer,” Seiji replied coolly, tucking the corners of his quilt under his mattress. When he was finished remaking his bed, he turned to face Nicholas. His expression was stony but his eyes betrayed his anger.

 

“I had rather hoped that I’d get some respite from your annoying and childish habits over the holidays. It seems that’s not going to be the case.” He reached out and grabbed the corner of the shower curtain. “Stay out of my side of the bedroom and stay out of my way.”

 

He swiftly pulled the shower curtain back into place, disappearing from view. Nicholas stared in confusion at the shower curtain for a few moments, wracking his brain trying to remember what exactly Seiji had said. He had mentioned going home this Christmas, hadn’t he? No, his bed was already empty when he’d gotten up this morning, so Nicholas just assumed that he’d already left. He jumped back onto his feet and switched off the music.

 

“I’m sorry I jumped on your bed,” he cried out, which wasn’t really necessary since Seiji was only a foot away on the other side of the curtain.

 

“You’re not sorry,” Seiji countered. “You’re only sorry that you got caught in the act.”

 

Nicholas opened his mouth to argue, then relented, “Okay, you may have a point there. I’m still sorry though. Let’s not start the Christmas holidays at each other’s throats, eh?”

 

Nicholas grinned as Seiji pulled the curtain back, pleased that he’d managed to convince his roommate to forgive him, but instead Seiji threw something damp and cold in his face before tugging the curtain closed again. Nicholas tossed his wet woollen hat onto the floor and slumped down onto his bed, the feelings of elation that had filled him only moments before now long gone.

 

So, he had given up a two week holiday at his best friend’s house to spend it alone with a boy who, for all intents and purposes, hated his guts.

 

_Brilliant_ , he thought miserably. _Merry Christmas indeed._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Queen's Breakthru was a big inspiration for writing this story, so I thought it would be fun if it was the song Nicholas was listening to in this chapter!


	2. Chapter 2

The phone only rang a couple of times before Bobby picked up.

 

“Well, that was quick. I’ve only been gone an hour,” he joked. “What’s up?”

 

“Seiji’s here,” Nicholas hissed.

 

“Sorry?”

 

“Seiji is here,” he repeated mournfully. “I thought that I had the room to myself for the next two weeks but then he just turned up and said that he’s staying here over the holidays, too.”

 

“You mean to tell me that you and Seiji are practically alone in Castello Dorm for the next two weeks?” asked Bobby flatly. Nicholas grimaced and leaned against the rough stone wall outside his dorms.

 

“Yup,” he sighed heavily.

 

“Oh man, I’m so jealous of you right now!” Bobby squealed. Nicholas frowned.

 

“This isn’t funny, Bobby!” he cried.

 

“I’m not laughing,” Bobby countered, although the amusement in his voice was rather pronounced.

 

“You’re supposed to be my friend and console me about this,” he grumbled, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can barely tolerate him when I’ve got you and the other guys there. I don’t know how we’re going to survive each other without classes and other people here to distract us.”

 

“Do you want to swap places?” Bobby teased. “No joke, Nicholas, you spend Christmas with my family and I’ll bunk with the hot fencing champion for a few weeks. I’m more than happy to shoulder this burden on your behalf.”

 

“If only,” he mumbled, kicking the brick wall in irritation. Trust Bobby to make light of his predicament. He was genuinely worried that the two of them would end up at each other’s throats come nightfall. As though reading his mind, Bobby spoke up again.

 

“I thought you two had patched up your differences and were friends now?” he asked curiously. Nicholas hesitated.

 

“We are friends. Sort of…” he mumbled. They probably weren’t friends at this very moment, not after Seiji had caught him jumping all over his bed, but he kept that little incident to himself. “We’re friends when he isn’t getting on my nerves, which isn’t very often. I mean, I’ve tried being friends with him but you know what he’s like.”

 

“What do you actually know about him?” Bobby challenged. Nicholas balked at the question.

 

“Lots of things,” he replied defensively. “He’s ranked second in the country, he’s right-handed, he has the fastest flèche I’ve ever seen…”

 

“You sound like you’re reading his stats off of a trading card,” Bobby chastised. “I mean, what do you actually know about Seiji the person, not the fencer?”

 

A long silence followed.

 

“Umm…” Nicholas faltered.

 

“Maybe this is your opportunity to find out a bit more about the person behind the saber,” Bobby suggested lightly. “It might do you both some good getting to know each other better instead of engaging in a constant game of one-upmanship. You might become proper friends in the process.”

 

“Maybe…” said Nicholas slowly, looking up towards his bedroom window on the first floor.

 

“Or we could always come and pick you up and you could stay with me instead?” Bobby suggested with a hopeful note in this voice. Nicholas considered Bobby’s words carefully. He supposed getting to know Seiji better might make the next couple of weeks more bearable.

 

Coach Williams’ voice suddenly rang clear in his head, telling him to take advantage of any opportunity that arose. She was always encouraging them to ‘pay attention’ to each other’s movements more closely, look for tells and weaknesses in each other’s games in order to exploit them. Getting to know Seiji might also help him understand his fencing techniques better and, ultimately, make it easier to beat him on the piste. ‘Know thy enemy’ they said...

 

Not that he and Seiji were real enemies, of course, they were on the same team. They were worlds apart in every way conceivable—their families, their upbringings, their wealth—every way except one: their determination to succeed. And while even their motivations to succeed differed, their dedication to fencing was unwavering. Nicholas found it hard to admit, even to himself, that despite his aloofness and arrogance, he admired Seiji. He wanted Seiji to respect him as a rival and an equal. But more importantly, he wanted to beat him. Yes, that was why he was keen to stay and get to know him better, he reasoned. Not because he actually liked Seiji.

 

“Nicholas, are you still there?” Bobby’s voice snapped Nicholas from his revery and he cleared his throat.

 

“Umm, I think I’ll stay a couple of days and see how it plays out,” he replied slowly.

 

“Sure thing!” chimed Bobby brightly, not at all sounding surprised at Nicholas’ decision. “Keep me posted, okay? And if you want to swap places…”

 

Nicholas said goodbye to his friend and hung up the phone, wondering how on earth he was going to get his roommate to even talk to him, let alone get to know him better. It would be a challenge, but then nothing Nicholas had in life had come easily to him. He was ready to face this next challenge head on—making friends with Seiji couldn’t be that difficult if he put his mind to it.

 

* * *

 

Seiji successfully ignored Nicholas for the rest of the day, only emerging from his side of the bedroom during mealtimes. They would make their way to the cafeteria together in silence, Seiji choosing to wear his oversized headphones rather than talk to Nicholas while they ate. Still, he took his usual spot next to Nicholas at the dinner table, so Nicholas figured that he wasn’t too angry at him after all. Hopefully, by tonight his roommate would be back to his usual aloof self instead of an ice queen.

 

By the time the 9:30 p.m. curfew came around, they were back in their bedroom and Seiji had finally removed his headphones. Nicholas sat with a small laptop on his bed (Bobby had kindly left it for him over the holidays) watching a Christmas film, but he kept glancing up at the curtain where he could see the outline of Seiji’s shadow, illuminated by his desk lamp and stooped over his desk.

 

 _Probably doing his homework,_ thought Nicholas. Did Seiji ever switch off and just relax?

 

“You know it’s the start of the holidays, Seiji, you’ve got two whole weeks to do your homework,” he piped up. “You don’t have to do it right now.”

 

“We have several assignments to be completed for the start of the new term. You can fall behind if you want, but I have no intention of doing so,” Seiji replied coolly.

 

Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Well, whenever you’re finished, I’m just about to start a new movie if you’re interested in coming over here and watching it with me.”

 

A long pause followed.

 

“You want to watch a movie with me?” Seiji asked uncertainly.

 

“I wouldn’t have asked otherwise, would I?” Nicholas teased gently.

 

“Why?” he asked with a suspicious note in his voice. Nicholas balked.

 

“Why?” he spluttered indignantly. “Why the hell not? We’re roommates, aren’t we?”

 

“You’ve never asked me before,” Seiji reasoned.

 

“Well, I’m asking you now,” Nicholas persisted with a slight edge to his voice, trying not to gnash his teeth in irritation at how difficult Seiji was making such a simple request. Seiji was silent for a few moments in contemplation before finally declining.

 

“I can’t...I’ve got an early start in the morning,” he replied quietly. Nicholas suppressed a sigh of irritation and merely shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Cool. Maybe tomorrow, then,” he muttered, although he didn’t really believe tomorrow would play out any differently.

 

Seiji shuffled about his side of the room for a few minutes before switching off his lamp, leaving only the pale blue light from the computer screen illuminating the small bedroom. Nicholas pressed play on the movie again. He wasn’t surprised by Seiji’s refusal, but he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. His roommate really didn’t make it easy being friends with him.

 

“Thank you,” Seiji mumbled suddenly. “For asking.”

 

Nicholas tried and failed to suppress the satisfied smile that spread across his face.

 

“No problem,” he replied softly.

 

“Goodnight.”

 

“Night.”

 

Nicholas settled himself back into a comfortable reclining position and turned his attention back to his movie, taking this small victory and slipping it into his mental back pocket. His roommate might not make it easy to be friends with him, but it wasn’t impossible.


	3. Chapter 3

When Nicholas woke early the next morning, he wasn’t surprised to find that Seiji had already left. His training regime with Dmytro was relentless: the man had set out a strict training regime with a carefully controlled protein-rich diet which Seiji followed to the letter. All Coach Joe had instructed of him in the last week was to avoid getting put in detention again and to have a merry Christmas.

 

He had a quick shower to wake himself up before heading to the training center to start his own morning routines. As he pushed open the swing door into the salle d'armes he heard the familiar _tak-tak-tak_ of the épée striking the fencing dummy but was surprised to find Seiji practicing on his own.

 

“Where’s Dmytro?” he called out. Seiji stalled in his assault and let the épée fall by his side, his brow slightly furrowed in irritation at having his concentration broken.

 

“He has a life beyond tutoring, Nicholas,” he replied, wiping sweat from his brow. “He's gone home to St. Petersburg to be with his family for the holidays.”

 

“You’re not home for the holidays,” Nicholas pointed out, standing on the piste next to Seiji’s. Seiji pursed his lips and turned his attention back to the dummy, giving it a particularly aggressive jab in the chest with his épée. Nicholas hazarded a guess that his roommate was imagining that he was the one on the receiving end of his attack for his persistent questioning.

 

Deciding it was better to leave Seiji to finish his training in peace, Nicholas turned to face his own dummy, practicing a few basic moves, advancing and attacking the target by lunging forward and breaking ground. He occasionally caught Seiji glancing over at him before averting his gaze, rolling his eyes and tsking under his breath. After the third annoyed huff, Nicholas paused mid-step and gave Seiji an exasperated look.

 

“What?” he snapped.

 

“You’re doing it all wrong,” said Seiji. Nicholas let out a derisive laugh.

 

“I can’t be all bad, I still managed to get a place on the team,” he smirked.

 

“As a reserve,” Seiji reminded him evenly. Nicholas resisted the urge to jab with his épée and instead turned back to his dummy.

 

“Not for long,” he declared, pressing the tip of his blade into the dummy’s heart. “Soon enough I’ll face you on the piste and next time I’m going to beat you.”

 

“Not with a shoddy technique like that,” Seiji countered. Nicholas snarled and rounded on Seiji.

 

“I came here to do my morning routine, not to get lectured by you!” he snapped.

 

“You’re the one interrupting me,” Seiji bit back. “Your technique is so poor that it’s distracting me.”

 

“Well, close your eyes, then!” Nicholas shouted. “Nobody asked you to look _or_ for your opinion!”

 

Nicholas tossed his épée onto the ground in frustration, hot anger bubbling up from the pit of his stomach. He turned on his heel and began to march away.

 

 _Screw standing here being insulted, and screw trying to be his friend_ , he thought angrily. It wasn’t worth the hassle. He’d call Bobby and see if he was still willing to have him as a guest for the remainder of the holidays.

 

“Nicholas, wait—”

 

He felt a strong hand grab his shoulder but he shook it off.

 

“Fuck off, Seiji! You made it abundantly clear that you don’t think that I should be here,” he snarled.

 

“I didn’t say that,” Seiji argued, grabbing Nicholas’ elbow. “Stop walking away and listen to me.”

 

“I’ve listened to enough of your insults to last me a lifetime,” Nicholas grumbled, but still he paused. Crossing his arms over his chest he glared at the floor, refusing to meet Seiji’s eyes. “What is it?”

 

Seiji opened his mouth to speak then quickly closed it again, his expression stern as he shuffled awkwardly from one foot to the other, trying to find the right words. Nicholas cast a furtive glance at Seiji; it was strange to see his roommate, usually so calm and collected, look so awkward and unsure of himself. Seiji gritted his teeth and spoke quietly as though afraid someone might overhear him.

 

“You aren’t completely awful, you know,” he mumbled. “You’ve just been poorly trained: you’ve learned a lot of bad habits that are holding you back.”

 

Nicholas gave him an incredulous look. “Was that supposed to be an apology?”

 

Seiji frowned a little. “Not an apology. I’m just stating facts.”

 

Nicholas rolled his eyes and turned to leave, but Seiji grabbed his shoulder again and turned Nicholas to face him.

 

“What I’m trying to say is your technique is atrocious but it’s not unsalvageable,” he cleared his throat and stared at his feet. “I can show you a couple of things, if you’d like?”

 

Nicholas blinked. “You...want to help me?”

 

“Only because you're distracting me so much from my own routine,” he reasoned. “Perhaps if I give you some pointers, you might get to a proficient enough level that you won’t be so off-putting for the rest of us.”

 

Nicholas felt a smirk teasing the corner of his lips. “Surely you’re not helping me because we’re _friends_ , Seiji?”

 

“Do you want my help or not?” he grumbled. Nicholas gave him a cheeky grin, hurried back over to the piste, and snatched his abandoned épée off the ground. Seiji gave him a curt nod and stepped close to him before resting his hands on Nicholas’ hips. “Alright, let’s start with the basics…”

 

“I know how to stand,” Nicholas protested hotly but Seiji ignored him.

 

“Your feet should be shoulder-width apart, heels at ninety degrees—”

 

“Knees bent,” Nicholas cut in. “Weight should be evenly spread across your front and back legs.”

 

Seiji’s hands fell by his side and he raised an eyebrow at Nicholas. “If you know it, show me.”

 

Nicholas got into position and Seiji scrutinized him closely, shifting his feet a little further apart and instructing him to bend his knee a little further. When he was satisfied with that, he clasped Nicholas’ left wrist in his fingers.

 

“Your wrist is bent and that’s leaving your forearm vulnerable,” he explained, straightening it into the correct position. “It’s important to leave no line of attack open to the forearm.”

 

His hand lingered on Nicholas’ a little longer than necessary and his fingertips brushed lightly along his arm before coming to rest on his shoulder. Nicholas suppressed a pleasant shiver that ran up his spine and gripped the épée more firmly.

 

“You need to relax your upper body,” Seiji instructed. “Every time you tense your shoulders before you attack, I see it coming.”

 

Nicholas rolled his shoulders and took a deep breath, trying with increasing difficulty to do just that. Seiji’s hands slid from Nicholas’ shoulders and he took a few steps back.

 

“Okay, let’s try a few basic drills…”

 

Nicholas spent the rest of the morning under Seiji’s intense tutelage, practicing on the dummy for a while before he finally got the opportunity to duel against his roommate and rival. Seiji trounced him but he definitely felt that there was a distinct improvement to his performance. When he finally hit Seiji in the chest, he threw his arms into the air and hollered in victory.

 

“Yes! In your face, Seiji!” he cried gleefully. Seiji slipped off his saber and gave him a withering look.

 

“You managed one hit, Nicholas, I’d hardly call it a victory. You’re still tensing your shoulder before you attack. You really need to work on that—”

 

Nicholas groaned and pulled his saber off. “Is there anything I’m doing that _isn’t_ wrong?”

 

Seiji gave him a once-over. “No.”

 

Nicholas rolled his eyes. Well, at least he was honest. Seiji hesitated before speaking again.

 

“You’re fast. Really fast. And being left-handed is an advantage,” he offered. Nicholas raised his eyebrows in surprise.

 

“Was that a compliment?” he asked in disbelief. Seiji shrugged.

 

“I’m just stating the facts.”

 

“It sounded like a compliment to me,” smirked Nicholas, bumping his shoulder against Seiji’s.

 

“You’re still not good enough to be on the team,” he argued.

 

“Not yet,” Nicholas relented, his smile broadening. “But I will be.”


	4. Chapter 4

Nicholas and Seiji quickly fell into a routine: they would get up early in the morning and argue over who got to use the shower first before heading to the salle d’armes to train together. Nicholas wasn’t particularly keen on this strict morning routine of Seiji’s: a fifteen-minute warm-up and stretching before thirty minutes of strength and core. Drills took up an hour and a half before balancing exercises and a ten-minute cool down period before spending the rest of the morning sparring with one another.

 

Seiji would complain about Nicholas’ sloppy technique and lament his many bad habits but he always spent the time showing him how to improve. After they had fought for a second time over who got to use the shower first, they would head to the cafeteria for a late breakfast. Nicholas looked at the contents of Seiji’s plate and raised an eyebrow.

 

“Why do you always eat the same thing every day?” he asked curiously.

 

“It’s part of Coach Dmytro’s diet plan,” he explained, taking a delicate bite from his slice of whole grain toast.

 

“Don’t you get bored of eating the same thing all the time?”

 

Seiji shrugged. “Not really. Food provides a function: I need it for energy. It’s not something that I really think about.”

 

“You sound like a robot,” Nicholas mused. Seiji cast a disparaging glance at the contents of Nicholas’ plate, which was stacked high with greasy link sausages, scrambled egg, bacon, and pancakes.

 

“That won’t be helping your training, either,” he said, nodding towards the overfilled plate. “All that processed meat doesn’t do you any favours.”

 

“Nope, but it tastes nice,” said Nicholas brightly, spearing a sausage and taking an aggressive bite from it. He offered a piece to Seiji who scrunched up his nose in disgust.

 

“I’m not putting that in my mouth,” he sneered. Nicholas grinned and waved the offering in front of his roommate’s face.

 

“Go on, it’s only a little sausage,” he teased. “Just take a bite!”

 

“No!” Seiji protested.

 

“You’re just afraid that you’re going to enjoy it!” laughed Nicholas, brandishing the sausage like an épée and trying to shove it in Seiji’s mouth, but Seiji was too quick for him and slapped the food from his hand and it skittered across the cafeteria floor.

 

“Cut it out!” snapped Seiji.

 

“My sausage!” Nicholas cried indignantly, watching in disappointment as his breakfast disappeared from view under another table.

 

“Are you two still fighting? I thought you’d managed to sort out your differences.”

 

Nicholas’ fork clattered onto his plate as he looked up and found Coach Williams looming over them, hands on her hips and a bemused expression on her face.

 

“We did, Coach,” Nicholas assured her, a cheeky grin spreading across his face. He nudged Seiji with his elbow. “Seiji and I are friends now, aren’t we?”

 

Seiji pursed his lips and said nothing. Clearly, that was still up for debate. Coach Williams, however, smirked at the two of them.

 

“I’ve noticed you two have started training together in the mornings. There’s been a definite improvement in your technique, Nicholas. Whatever it is that you’re doing, keep it up. But keep the sparring to the piste in future; food’s for eating, not for fighting.”

 

Coach Williams turned on her heel and left the cafeteria with Coach Lewis at her heels. Nicholas bumped shoulders with Seiji and grinned.

 

“How about that? Even Coach has seen an improvement! Didn’t I tell you I’d be making the team soon enough?” he said, sounding immensely pleased with himself.

 

“You’re still a long way from that,” Seiji argued, taking a sip from his green smoothie. “But...I suppose you have gotten a little better since we started training together.”

 

“All thanks to you,” said Nicholas sincerely.

 

“I couldn’t agree more.”

 

Nicholas rolled his eyes and shovelled another forkful of food into his mouth. “Ever so humble.”

 

Seiji shrugged. “Just stating the facts.”

 

Nicholas couldn’t deny that a lot of his improvement was thanks to Seiji. After those first few weeks of animosity between them at the start of term, Nicholas never would have thought that he would get to a point where he seriously considered Seiji a friend, and in such a short period of time. What really surprised him was how much he’d enjoyed his roommate and fencing rival’s company in the last few days. He wasn’t the most forthcoming when it came to talking about things of a personal matter—he still hadn’t told Nicholas why he was staying at Kings Row for the holidays instead of seeing his family—but he found that Seiji had a very dry sense of humour that he liked. He had learned that Seiji had spent some time living and training in France before moving back to the States to attend Kings Row. Nicholas didn’t know any French, but he liked the way the words rolled over Seiji’s tongue, so he would constantly ask him for the French equivalent of English words.

 

“How do you say rubber duck in French?” he’d asked curiously, pointing at the shower curtain in their bedroom as they sat next to each other on his bed. They were supposed to be studying, but Nicholas was often easily distracted from his work.

 

Without looking up from his textbook, Seiji had replied, “Canard en plastique.”

 

“How do you say hair in French?” he’d asked another time, watching Seiji arrange his meticulously styled hair with a three-quarter parting. He’d caught Nicholas’ eye in the mirror and quickly looked away again.

 

“Cheveux,” he’d replied simply.

 

Despite his obvious irritation at Nicholas’ constant inquiries, Seiji always humoured him and answered his questions. Nicholas concluded that Seiji wasn’t as bad as he originally thought and that he enjoyed being friends with him, even if he was still one of the most frustrating people he had ever come across. Spearing another sausage from his plate he scrutinized it closely.

 

“What do they call these in France?” he asked. The corners of Seiji’s mouth turned down as he eyed the sausage with a distasteful expression.

 

“Disgusting,” he sneered. Nicholas snorted and took another bite out of it. Seiji turned back to his own, much healthier, breakfast and added, “In France, they would call it ‘saucisse’.”

 

“Saucisse,” Nicholas repeated with his mouth full of food. Seiji rolled his eyes and took another bite out of his toast rather than comment on Nicholas’ atrocious table manners.

 

Yes, Nicholas couldn’t deny that Seiji had a lot to do with his improved performance over the last week. He really ought to do something nice for him as a thank you. He couldn’t buy him anything because he didn’t have much money. That ruled out taking him somewhere nice, too. His options were limited, but Nicholas was nothing if not resourceful. That resourcefulness had gotten him to Kings Row, he was certain he could think of some way of thanking Seiji.


	5. Chapter 5

Just before the 9:30 p.m. curfew came into effect, Nicholas slipped back into his bedroom and found Seiji stooped over his desk, scribbling away in his notepad.

 

“Where have you been?” he asked without looking up from his schoolwork. Nicholas smirked and leaned against Seiji’s desk, looking immensely pleased with himself.

 

“Well, I wanted to get you a little something to say thank you for all of your help over the last few days, so I went on a little recon mission to the kitchens and I came back with some goodies for us.”

 

Seiji cast a quick glance at Nicholas’ ass and his cheeks tinged pink as he tugged his textbook out from under his rear. “So, what did you find?”

 

Nicholas pulled a large packet of potato chips and a box of snickerdoodles from the inside of his black hoodie and tossed them onto the desk.

 

“And, I found something extra special just for you. Call it an early Christmas present…” Nicholas pulled a large bottle of rum from the front pocket of his pants and slammed it onto the table in front of a horrified-looking Seiji.

 

“Merry Christmas!” he beamed.

 

“Where did you get that?” he asked, sounding aghast.

 

“Kitchens,” he explained. “I spent a couple of detentions there helping Chef Simpson prepare dinner and I found this hidden in one of the cupboards. I timed it well: that’s a new bottle, it hasn’t even been opened.”

 

Seiji thrust the bottle into Nicholas’ hands. “Well, you better put it back before he realizes that it’s missing!”

 

Nicholas snorted, “No way! This is a find! We’re keeping it. Besides, it’s not like Simpson is going to report his secret stash of booze is missing, so we’re in the clear.”

 

“We?” Seiji hissed. “If _you_ get caught drinking, you’ll be kicked off of the team. You might even get expelled.”

 

Nicholas looked crestfallen. “But...I got it for you as a gift. Don’t you want it?”

 

“Do I want to risk getting kicked off of the team because you’re being an idiot?” he sneered. “No, thank you.”

 

Hurt streaked across Nicholas’ face but he schooled his expression into a stony glare.

 

“Fine,” he snapped, drawing back the shower curtain and flopping down onto his bed, sitting cross-legged with the unopened bottle on his lap. “Be like that. I was just trying to say thank you.” Nicholas’ eyes were drawn to a small package sitting on his pillow and he frowned. “What’s this?”

 

Seiji’s cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of pink and he glared at his notepad, refusing to look at Nicholas.

 

“It’s nothing,” he mumbled. “Just a Christmas present.”

 

Nicholas gaped at him, “You got me a Christmas present?”

 

“Well it _is_ Christmas tomorrow, isn’t it?” he replied defensively. “It’s a common social practice to get one’s roommate a gift.”

 

Nicholas picked up the small square parcel and turned it over in his hand. It was wrapped in plain blue paper with Seiji’s thin, neat handwriting on the front:

 

_To Nicholas, Merry Christmas, S x_

 

He felt a pleasant jolt shoot through his stomach at the little kiss placed at the end of the short message. It might not have meant anything on Seiji’s part, he’d probably put it there out of habit, but it meant everything to Nicholas. He hadn’t been expecting anything for Christmas this year—certainly not a friendship with Seiji—and now he had a gift to open in the morning as well. He tried to swallow down the large lump in his throat because he was finding it difficult to speak.

 

“Thank you, Seiji,” he said softly, carefully placing the present on his bedside table to open in the morning. “You didn’t have to do that.”

 

“I know I didn’t have to,” he muttered irritably before adding, “I wanted to.”

 

Nicholas looked at the bottle of rum and thought it was probably a lame Christmas present compared to whatever Seiji had bought him. Still, there was no point putting it to waste. He unscrewed the cap and took an experimental sniff before recoiling.

 

“Oh man, that’s strong!” he chuckled. Seiji threw him a sharp look.

 

“You’re not seriously thinking about drinking that, are you?” he asked. Nicholas took a swig from the bottle and grimaced as the amber liquid burned his throat. He held the bottle out to Seiji.

 

“Are you sure you don’t want some?” he offered.

 

“No,” he replied shortly, stuffing a snickerdoodle into his mouth and turning back to his homework. Nicholas shrugged.

 

“Suit yourself. I just thought it’d be fun to play a game,” he suggested lightly.

 

“What game?” asked Seiji curiously.

 

“It’s a game that I’m very good at,” he teased. “I’ve never lost. And I bet I’d beat you easily.”

 

Seiji slowly turned to face Nicholas with a stony look of determination. Nicholas bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling. He knew appealing to Seiji’s competitive spirit would get him on board.

 

“I doubt that, Zero,” Seiji drawled. “What’s the game?”

 

“That’s One to you,” he smirked. “The game is Truth or Drink; we take turns asking each other questions. You answer truthfully, otherwise, you take a drink.”

 

After a few moments of consideration, Seiji moved over to Nicholas’ bed and sat cross-legged in front of him.

 

“Game on,” he declared. Nicholas smiled and passed the bottle to Seiji.

 

“Okay, let’s start with something easy,” he said. “Have you ever peed in the shower?”

 

Seiji spluttered indignantly, “That’s disgusting! What kind of question is that?”

 

“Answer the question, Seiji,” Nicholas smirked. Seiji glared at him.

 

“Yes,” he finally replied through gritted teeth. Nicholas chuckled to himself. If Seiji was getting embarrassed already, then he was surely going to win this game. But Seiji was equally determined to win, and if he were to snatch victory from Nicholas, it would make it that much sweeter. Seiji scanned the room for inspiration and his eyes fell on the night light beside Nicholas’ bed.

 

“You sleep with a night light,” he pointed out. “Are you afraid of the dark?”

 

“Yes,” Nicholas replied unabashedly.

 

“Why?”

 

“You only get one question, Seiji,” he reminded him. “My turn. When was the last time you told a lie?”

 

“Today when I told you that you weren’t shit,” Seiji quipped.

 

“Oh, haha,” replied Nicholas sarcastically.

 

“My turn again,” said Seiji. “Why are you afraid of the dark?”

 

Nicholas took a swig of rum and thrust the bottle into Seiji’s hand. He wasn’t drunk enough to admit the reason behind that yet.

 

“What is your biggest pet peeve?” he asked.

 

“You,” Seiji replied immediately, pushing the bottle back into Nicholas’ hand. “Same question.”

 

“Same answer,” he laughed. The game continued like this for a while, each of them passing the bottle back and forth, easily answering the more embarrassing and silly questions but more often than not opting to take a drink rather than answer the more personal questions. When the bottle was half-empty, Nicholas let out an exasperated sigh.

 

“Is this how this is going to play out?” he mused. “Us ribbing each other ‘til we finish the bottle?”

 

“Isn’t that the game you wanted to play?” asked Seiji.

 

“I wanted to beat you at something for a change,” he countered. “And to drink this cheap rum.” He shrugged his shoulders and mumbled, “And to get to know you a bit better.”

 

“Why are you so interested in getting to know me better?” Seiji asked curiously.

 

“Because it’ll make it easier to beat you,” he joked.

 

Seiji rolled his eyes, “I doubt that very much. My turn—why do you only wear black clothes?”

 

Nicholas snorted, “Is that seriously your question?”

 

“Yes!” he replied hotly, crossing his arms. “You never wear anything but black clothes. What’s that all about?”

 

Nicholas shrugged. “I dunno, I’ve never thought about it before. Black goes with everything, I guess.”

 

Seiji didn’t seem particularly satisfied with that answer, but he pursed his lips and took the bottle from Nicholas’ hand and waited for his next question. Nicholas thought it was a strange and rather specific observation to have made about him, but he shook that thought from his head and posed Seiji his next question.

  
“What is your biggest fear?” he asked.

 

“Failure,” Seiji answered immediately. “Same question.”

 

“Same answer.” Nicholas nodded before elaborating, “Losing my reservation on the team, losing my scholarship, ending up back where I started.”

 

“Which was…?” Seiji pressed.

 

“Nowhere you’d want to be,” he replied cryptically. “My turn—what is your guilty pleasure?”

 

Surprisingly, Seiji answered this question immediately.

 

“A triple fudge sundae with whipped cream,” he admitted with a dreamy expression. “With chocolate sprinkles.”

 

“Nice,” Nicholas nodded approvingly. “I’m glad to know you’re not a robot after all. I was beginning to wonder if you ate anything else apart from wholemeal toast and green smoothies.”

 

Nicholas swayed slightly on the spot, the rum was really going to his head now. Seiji didn’t give the impression that the alcohol had affected him much, but his cheeks were quite red. Seiji was silent for a few moments as he considered his next question, “Do you like ice-cream?”

 

Nicholas raised his eyebrows in surprise at the question. “Uh, sure. It’s alright.”

 

“What kind?” Seiji pressed.

 

“Umm…” Nicholas thought for a moment. “Salted caramel.”

 

Seiji nodded approvingly. “There’s an ice-cream parlor in town that does the best ice-cream sundaes. You should check it out sometime.”

 

“With you?”

 

Seiji shrugged non-committedly. “If you’d like.”

 

Nicholas smiled to himself. It seemed like Seiji was slowly coming around to this friendship thing after all. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, trying to think of another question.

 

“What is your secret talent, if you have one?” he asked.

 

Seiji thought for a moment then climbed off of the bed and did a one-armed handstand, his shirt falling down over his head to reveal a pale, lithe torso. Nicholas’ smile faltered and he looked away, heat rising in his cheeks. Seiji landed gracefully on his feet and sat back on the bed. It was an impressive feat considering how drunk he must be.

 

“My turn,” he said. “If you were a superhero, what would your power be?”

 

“Ooh, fun question,” said Nicholas appraisingly. “It would have to be fencing.”

 

“How predictable,” Seiji replied drily. Nicholas smiled and rolled his eyes.

 

“Whatever. Same question.”

 

Seiji smirked and replied, “Fencing, obviously.”

 

They both started laughing, a little hysterically thanks to their inebriated state, but it felt good nonetheless. Nicholas liked how Seiji got dimples on his cheeks when he laughed, and he gave him a lopsided smile.

 

“I’ve never seen you smile before,” he mused.

 

Seiji raised an eyebrow. “That’s a weird question to ask.”

 

“It’s not a question, just an observation. I’ve just never seen you smile at anything or heard you laugh before,” he said gently. “It’s nice. You have a nice smile.”

 

Seiji’s cheeks went an even deeper shade of crimson at this compliment.

  
“Thanks,” he mumbled, lowering his gaze to hide another smile. Three-quarters of the bottle was gone now and the game was almost finished. Nicholas was pretty sure that he was winning but he’d lost count of their score a while ago. Winning didn’t seem all that important now anyway.

  
  
_Alright_ , he thought. _Time to start pushing his buttons_.

 

“Who do you have a crush on?” he asked casually. Seiji took a swig from the bottle and Nicholas smirked.

 

“So, you _do_ have a crush on someone?” he pressed.

 

“You already asked your question,” Seiji countered. Nicholas shrugged.

 

“Fine, ask me yours.”

 

“Why did you take up fencing?” he asked.

 

“Because I’m good at it and I enjoy it.”

 

“Bullshit,” Seiji whispered. “That’s not the real reason, is it?”

 

Nicholas glowered at him. “You’ve already asked your question and I answered it. My turn—the person you have a crush on, do they go to this school?”

 

Seiji hesitated then took another swig. Nicholas slapped his thigh and cackled gleefully, “I knew it!”

 

“I didn’t say anything!” Seiji snapped.

 

“Sometimes silence speaks volumes,” he teased. “I told you that I was good at this game.”

 

Seiji seethed, “Fine. My next question—how come you’re so annoying?”

 

“That’s not a real question,” Nicholas laughed. “You’re just getting annoyed because I’m beating you.”

 

Seiji thrust the bottle into Nicholas’ hand. “You didn’t answer my question.”

 

Nicholas took a swig from the bottle rather than dignify such a ridiculous question with an answer. He gave Seiji a mischievous grin and asked, “Have you ever kissed anyone before?”

 

Seiji frowned, snatched the bottle from Nicholas and took another swig.

 

Nicholas cackled. “That’s definitely a no!”

 

“Is not!” Seiji protested.

 

“It’s nothing to be ashamed about,” Nicholas offered kindly. “Bobby hasn’t kissed anyone, either.”

 

Seiji raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? I thought he and Dante…”

 

“So did I,” said Nicholas. “But apparently they’re just friends.” Seiji snorted.

 

“Someone should probably tell Dante that,” he muttered. He gave Nicholas a hard look, “Have _you_ ever kissed anyone?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Nobody you know!” he laughed.

 

“So, it was nobody here?” he inquired.

 

“No, nobody here.” He took another swig from the increasingly depleted bottle without prompting, it didn’t even burn when he drank it anymore. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and glared at Seiji, asking him the question that he’d been waiting to ask him all evening: “How come you stayed at Kings Row over Christmas?”

 

He was disappointed when Seiji took the bottle from him and brought it to his lips, but  then he paused, “I’ll tell you why if you answer the same question first.”

 

“That’s not how you play the game,” he reminded him. Seiji pressed the bottle to his lips again but Nicholas quickly reached out to stop him. “Okay, I’ll tell you.” The opportunity to hear why Seiji was here was worth divulging a little information about himself. He took a deep breath before he finally admitted, “Before I came here, I lived in a foster home. I don’t really have a proper home to go back to over the holidays, so I stayed here. You?”

 

Something flickered behind Seiji’s dark eyes and he lowered the bottle. “I didn’t realize,” he said quietly.

 

Nicholas gave a careless shrug. “It’s not something I advertise, especially not here. You know how competitive it can get; people will use anything to bring you down a peg or two. Well, everyone except you, you’re too classy for that, eh? I mean, you’ll criticize my game but you don’t rip on people the same way Aiden does.”

 

“I get enough of that myself,” Seiji admitted. “People are always saying that I shouldn’t be here, that I don’t belong.”

 

“I know how that feels,” he mumbled. “I don’t look like I holiday in the Hamptons, do I?”

 

“I think they’d take one look at you and turn you away at the gates,” Seiji joked. Nicholas laughed and nodded in agreement.

 

“Yeah, probably,” he gave Seiji an expectant look. “So tell me, why are you here instead of at home with your parents?”

 

Seiji shuffled uncomfortably before admitting, “Well, normally I would spend Christmas with my father, but he had to work over the holidays. I didn’t particularly fancy spending Christmas at home on my own, so I stayed here.”

 

“What about your mum?” asked Nicholas curiously.

 

“She died when I was little,” Seiji stated matter-of-factly. Nicholas felt a stab of guilt at not knowing this before.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize,” he said quietly, but Seiji shrugged.

 

“It’s alright, you couldn’t have known. She was the one who introduced me to fencing, you know. She played professionally before she retired and had me. After she died, I kept it up.”

 

“You play for her?” asked Nicholas.

 

“No, I play for myself,” Seiji countered. “But I win for her. When I do lose, it’s difficult…”

 

Seiji’s voiced trailed off and he looked miserable. Nicholas gently nudged him with his foot in an effort to distract him from his morose thoughts.

 

“Go on, hit me with your next question,” he smiled. Seiji looked hesitant before asking his next question and Nicholas had a strong feeling that he wasn’t going to like it.

 

“What’s your relationship with Jesse Coste?” he asked boldly.

 

Nicholas felt a dull pain strike his heart at the question. Damnit, he should have known that Seiji would bring this up. Normally his instinct would be to tell him to fuck off and mind his own business, but copious amounts of liquor would loosen anyone’s tongue. He gazed back at Seiji, focusing on his warm brown eyes, trying to steady himself.

 

“We don’t have a relationship...but he is my brother,” he admitted. Seiji’s eyes widened with shock.

 

“W-what?” he stammered.

 

“Well, half-brother,” Nicholas corrected himself, taking another swig of the rum without prompting. “Robert Coste is my father. Never met him, of course, he took off before my mom found out she was pregnant. She told me about him when I was little, though: ‘Your Daddy’s an Olympic champion, son, you could be him one day.’” Nicholas snorted, “Well, I’m trying my best. But according to you, my best still isn’t good enough. The story of my life...”

 

Seiji looked a little shell-shocked at this revelation; he was staring at Nicholas as though he were only really seeing him for the first time.

 

“It all makes sense…” he whispered. “You’re both left-handed, your speed…” Seiji leaned forward and looked deep into his eyes and Nicholas felt his heart beat faster. “Christ, you look like him, too. How have I never noticed it before?”

 

Nicholas groaned and made to move off of the bed. “I shouldn’t have told you that.”

 

Seiji grabbed his arm and pulled him back onto the bed. “Hold up! I’m not going to tell anyone. Your secret’s safe with me.”

 

“It’s not that,” Nicholas replied irritably. He gave Seiji a hard look. “You’re already obsessed with Jesse. I get it, you have a score to settle with him, but he’s not the one who’s on the piste every day trying to kick your ass, _I_ am. There are scores to be settled between us too. We might be related by blood, but I’m not Jesse, we’re nothing alike. Everything I have, I got on my own, not from my father’s name. I don’t want you to look at me and see him. I want you to look at me and _see me_.”

 

“I do see you,” Seiji replied weakly. He swallowed hard and for the first time since Nicholas had met him, he looked nervous. “Ask me again.”

 

“Ask you what?” sighed Nicholas wearily.

 

“Ask me if I like someone.”

 

Nicholas rolled his eyes. “If you like someone, you could always just tell me, Seiji.”

 

“That’s not how we play the game though, is it?” he challenged. Nicholas sighed and turned to face Seiji again.

 

“Do you like someone, Seiji?”

 

“Yes.” his eyes flicked from Nicholas’ mouth back up to his doe-brown eyes. “Do _you_ like someone?”

 

Nicholas’ heart began to beat faster at how close Seiji’s face was to his own; he could feel his quick breaths tickle his own lips. He had an inkling where Seiji might be going with this, but he didn’t want to miscalculate the moment. He hesitated for a moment before admitting, “Yes...the person you like—do they go to this school?”

 

Seiji nodded. “Same question.”

 

Nicholas nodded slowly, his heart was racing in his chest now. “Seiji...do you like me?”

 

Slowly, Seiji raised the bottle to his lips and took a swig, his eyes, wide and expectant, never wavering from Nicholas’. Nicholas’ mouth suddenly felt very dry.

 

That drink definitely meant yes.

 

“Same question,” Seiji whispered. Nicholas had been so determined to win this game, to beat Seiji at something for a change, but at what cost? What he said now could change their relationship forever. Depending on what he said next, he might win more than a silly game. _Fuck it_ , he thought. You didn’t win at fencing—or life—by playing it safe.

 

“Yes,” he declared quietly. “I like you.”

 

Throwing caution to the wind, he leaned forward and pressed his and Seiji’s lips together in a tender kiss. Nicholas thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest, it was beating so hard. He was hyper-aware of everything around him: how Seiji’s impossibly soft lips trembled a little against his own; how shaky his breathing was from nerves; the rough fabric of his quilt cover beneath his fingertips as he gripped it for dear life, trying to keep himself anchored to the earth and not float away.

 

He pulled away and looked at Seiji to gauge his reaction. Seiji still had his eyes closed, a dreamy expression on his face, when suddenly his eyes flew open and all of the color drained from his face. Nicholas felt his stomach drop. Oh god, that had been the wrong thing to do…

 

Seiji scrambled off of the bed and ran in the direction of the bathroom, not even bothering to close the door behind him, Nicholas following close behind.

 

“Seiji—”

 

Nicholas’ words were cut short when Seiji suddenly wretched and he threw up in the toilet. Nicholas grimaced. Okay, maybe drinking half a bottle of rum hadn’t been such a clever idea after all.

 

* * *

 

It took a while for Seiji to stop being sick. He’d have Nicholas to thank for his first hangover as well as his first kiss, although he was sure he’d be less than grateful for the former. Nicholas got him tucked into bed before he placed a basin on the floor and a large glass of water on his bedside table. Seiji grumbled an incoherent thanks and quickly fell asleep, dead to the world. Nicholas sighed and retreated to his own bed, his head swimming with the evening’s surprising revelations.

 

If he’d told himself last week that he’d be sharing a drunken kiss with Seiji Katayama, he’d have laughed in his own face and said that he was lying or delusional. Funny how much can change within the span of a few days. He tried to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes all he could think about were how soft Seiji’s cupid’s bow lips had been pressed against his own. Kissing him had seemed like a great idea at the time, but now...he sighed and rubbed his tired eyes. His impulsive nature might have its uses, but more often than not it just got him into more trouble.

 

A few hours passed and Nicholas heard Seiji stir. He listened as Seiji moved almost silently towards the bathroom before returning to bed a few minutes later without saying anything. He could tell by his breathing that he was still awake, but Nicholas was too afraid to say anything to him. Seiji’s reaction to the kiss hadn’t been what he’d expected. He had always prided himself on being a decent kisser, and he’d never made anyone puke before. Of course, that was probably more attributed to the half bottle of rum that Seiji had drank than Nicholas’ ability to kiss, but he couldn’t help but worry about what Seiji would say in the morning.

 

He closed his eyes and fell into a restless night’s sleep, wondering how the hell he was going to sort out this mess in the morning.

 


	6. Chapter 6

When Nicholas woke the next morning, he wasn’t surprised to find Seiji’s bed empty. He drew the rubber duck curtain to reveal a perfectly made, conspicuously empty bed before slumping back into his own, a maelstrom of confused emotions swirling inside of him. Despite probably feeling worse than he did, Seiji would have gotten up for his usual morning routine; Nicholas doubted anything could dissuade his roommate from fencing, certainly not something as minor as a hangover. He wondered if Seiji had tried and failed to wake him up this morning or if he was avoiding him.

  
Nicholas felt conflicted. He thought that when he woke the next morning with a clear head, he and Seiji would simply brush off the what had happened the night before as a drunken moment and move on. As annoying as Seiji was, he really did like him—as a friend—but now all of these other entirely unexpected feelings bubbled to the surface whenever he thought about him. He played last night’s kiss over and over again in his mind in excruciating detail. Up until that unfortunate moment when Seiji had been violently sick, the kiss had been perfect. Nicholas had been under the impression that Seiji had enjoyed it, but it took him by surprise how much he had enjoyed it too, and how much he wanted to do it again.

 

Nicholas covered his face in his hands and groaned. Where had these thoughts and feelings suddenly cropped up from? When had he become so attentive to the appearance and actions of Seiji Katayama? Evidently, the fluttering sensation he got in the pit of his stomach every time Seiji spoke to him was more than mere irritation. He now realized that he didn’t just want to run his fingers through Seiji’s perfectly put-together hair just to annoy him, he wanted to know the texture of it. He wondered if it was as silky soft as his lips had been…

 

Okay, so clearly he had been feeling this way for a while now. Excitement and nervousness coursed through him at the mere thought of kissing Seiji again, maybe even doing more than kissing. A pleasant feeling swelled in the center of his chest at the possibility of calling Seiji his boyfriend, but he shook his head clear of that thought; he was getting way ahead of himself. He needed to talk to Seiji about how he felt first.

 

Nicholas’ eyes fell onto the small blue parcel on his bedside table and his heart leaped. He’d almost forgotten that it was Christmas morning. He smiled as he read the short message on the parcel again before tearing the wrapping paper off to reveal a book. Turning it over in his hand, he grinned as he read the title, “Oxford’s Learner’s French Dictionary”. He flipped through the book and his heart skipped a beat as he noticed Seiji’s familiar handwriting on the front page:

 

_I thought this might come in handy when I’m not there to answer your incessant stream of questions. Merry Christmas x_

 

A pleasant feeling jolted his stomach as he read the message twice over. It was the first Christmas present he’d received in as long as he could remember and it was perfect. He couldn’t help but notice the little kiss at the end of the message, too. Perhaps Seiji felt the same way he did, even if he did have a funny way of showing it.

 

Nicholas stared at the white blizzard blustering past his bedroom window, deep in thought. It now seemed imperative to find a gift that could match Seiji’s, one that he had to find on short notice with no money, something that also showed Seiji how he felt about him. An idea began to form in his mind as he pulled on his black hoodie and jeans. Hopefully, he could get everything ready before Seiji got back from his training session.

 

* * *

 

Seiji Katayama was a boy who had always prided himself on keeping a cool head, even under the most stressful situations. It had won him thirty-nine of the forty matches he’d played last season, earned him a ranking of second in the country, had secured him a place at Kings Row and on the fencing team, despite only being a freshman. People tried to drag him down, belittle and bully him, but Seiji never lost his temper or let anyone ruffle his feathers. No-one, except for Nicholas Cox.

 

He tried practicing his flèche attacks but his movements were more sluggish than usual, his mind distracted by Nicholas’ stupid haircut and his even stupider black clothes that clung in all the right places, his stupid lopsided smile that made his stomach backflip every time he saw it, and Nicholas’ big, stupid, gorgeous doe-brown eyes...

 

Seiji gave the dummy a particularly aggressive stab with his épée, imagining that he was striking himself for his own stupidity. Nicholas was Seiji’s opposite in every way; they were polar opposites and entirely incompatible with one another. Where Seiji was careful and calculated, Nicholas was unbridled and impulsive. Where Seiji was quiet and reserved, Nicholas was loud and brash. They drove each other crazy and they argued all of the time. Nicholas was the most annoying, funny and interesting person Seiji had ever met and he hated himself for it.

 

Seiji stalked back and forth across the piste, struggling to keep his emotions from spilling over. He had tried to keep a lid on his feelings, push them down, brush them aside and concentrate on what really mattered— _winning_ —but over time his feelings for Nicholas had only intensified. He blamed Nicholas entirely for the way he felt. The boy was nothing but a distraction, a constant irritation that permeated his thoughts and feelings and even his dreams.

 

When Seiji had first met Nicholas, he had been nothing but an irritation, an irrelevance. Then Seiji had begun to envy him: he envied how Nicholas wore his heart on his sleeve, how open and honest and free he was about his feelings, always able to express himself in ways that Seiji wanted to but couldn’t. Then over time, to his horror, he had begun to like Nicholas. A lot.

 

Seiji slashed the épée through the air and struck the dummy several times in frustration. When Nicholas had kissed him, it was better than he had ever imagined it could be. Then he had to go and humiliate himself by being sick. _Stupid Nicholas and his stupid games_ , he thought angrily. _Stupid, stupid stupid!_

 

Seiji snarled in anger and tossed the épée onto the ground, defeated. He had let his feelings get the better of him last night. Against his better judgment, he had kissed Nicholas back. And for what? It probably meant nothing to Nicholas, nothing but a drunken, teenage experimentation. What would his Coach have to say about letting a boy distract him so much? Christ, what would his father say? It annoyed him how much he liked Nicholas. Even now, despite the logical part of his brain telling him that he shouldn’t, all he wanted to do was kiss him again.

 

 _I’m the one who’s stupid_ , he thought miserably as he tossed his saber and glove back into their holdall. He had been the one foolish enough to let his guard down. It was the same in life as it was with fencing: he had misstepped last night in a moment of weakness and Seiji had left himself vulnerable to attack and ridicule. It was a rookie mistake.

 

He wasn’t looking forward to facing Nicholas when he went back to their room, but he knew that he couldn’t hide in the salle d'armes forever. Hiking his heavy bag onto his shoulder, he slowly made his way back to Castello Dorm, unsure of what he was going to say to his roommate. He wondered if Nicholas would request that they swap rooms with one of the other boys. Not that Coach had listened the first time that they had asked that: she had had them run suicides until they knew better than to ask again. Perhaps this would qualify as extenuating circumstances? For the first time since he had arrived at Kings Row, Seiji realized that he didn’t want to share a room with anyone else.

 

Quicker than he had hoped, Seiji found himself standing outside Room 108. He was more nervous now than he had been in the moments before Nicholas had kissed him, even more than he was for his first regional final. He didn’t know how Nicholas was going to react when he spoke to him, but he had put off the confrontation for long enough. Steeling himself, he took a deep breath and gripped the door handle, ready to face whatever reaction awaited him within.

 

Suddenly, the bedroom door burst open and Nicholas crashed into Seiji.

 

“Oof! Wha—oh, hi,” Nicholas stumbled over his words and his feet as he stepped back from Seiji and quickly closed the bedroom door behind him, looking shifty.

 

“Morning,” Seiji replied stiffly. He felt his stomach backflip as Nicholas nervously swiped his pink tongue over his lips, wetting them, and he quickly lowered his gaze to avoid staring and thinking about how much he wanted to kiss them again. They stood in awkward silence for a few moments before they both opened their mouths to speak at the same time.

 

“I’m sorry about last night,” they both said hurriedly, then frowned at each other.

 

“What are you sorry about?” asked Nicholas cautiously. Seiji’s stomach twisted with embarrassment.

 

“Isn’t it obvious?” he muttered. Nicholas laughed nervously.

 

“Yeah, I’m sorry that you got sick, that was totally my fault. The rum was a terrible idea.”

 

“Finally something we can both agree on,” Seiji drawled. “And I wasn’t talking about that. I meant...the other thing.”

 

“Oh,” Nicholas looked crestfallen. “Um...well, I guess I’m sorry that you’re sorry about that.”

 

Seiji raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? You’re not sorry?”

 

“Should I be?” asked Nicholas, looking increasingly confused.

 

“Yes. I mean...no, I—” Seiji stammered and sighed. He wasn’t the most articulate person when it came to expressing how he felt. “What I mean to say is that I apologize if my behavior last night offended you in any way. I don’t normally behave like that, but being inebriated is no excuse. If you’d feel more comfortable making arrangements to have a different roommate, I’d understand.”

 

Seiji had expected Nicholas to look relieved. If anything, he looked even more confused. “I don’t want to change roommates. I like sharing a room with you.”

 

“Really?” asked Seiji, sounding unconvinced.

 

“Okay, maybe I didn’t like it all that much to begin with,” he relented with a slight shrug. “But the last couple of weeks have been really fun: watching movies, playing video games, even studying together hasn’t been all that bad. And after last night. Well…”

 

Seiji couldn’t help the color that rose in his cheeks at the lopsided grin Nicholas gave him. A minuscule flicker of hope sparked into life inside of him at the possibility that Nicholas might feel the same way he did, but instinct told him to keep his guard up. He cleared his throat and unconsciously crossed his arms.

 

“Okay...good,” he replied stiffly. “I’ll admit that sharing a room with you these last few days hasn’t been entirely unpleasant.”

 

He inwardly admonished himself for his inability to just say how he really felt, for always pushing people away when they tried to get close to him. He expected Nicholas to roll his eyes and to reply with a snappy retort, but instead, his grin broadened.

 

“I’m glad that you’re finally coming around to the idea of us being friends,” he joked. “I was coming to look for you, actually. I have something for you—call it an apology for the rum as well as a thank you for my Christmas present.”

 

“Oh.” Seiji felt heat prickle the back of his neck. He had forgotten about the present. “Did you like it?”

 

“Yeah, it’s great. I’m going to try and learn a new word every day.” Nicholas smiled. “Although, I might have to pester you just to make sure that I’m pronouncing it properly.” He rested his hand on the door handle. “Would you like to see what I got for you?”

 

Seiji’s heart began to race with nerves but he gave a curt nod in response. His heart practically jumped into his throat when Nicholas slipped his free hand into his own.

 

“Close your eyes,” Nicholas instructed gently and, for once in his life, Seiji followed the instruction without resisting. He heard the bedroom door click and creak open and when Nicholas gave his hand a slight tug he shuffled forward into the bedroom. Seiji heard the door close behind him and Nicholas spoke again. “You can open your eyes, now.”

 

Slowly, Seiji opened his eyes gaped at the unexpected and wondrous sight that greeted him. The entire room had been decked out with Christmas decorations: garlands of tinsel in garish red and gold crisscrossed the walls and window frame, and silver and green baubles of various shapes and sizes had been pinned to the large cork board over Seiji’s bed spelling out the message ‘Merry Christmas’. Seiji stepped further into the room and his feet crunched under fake snow which had been sprinkled across the wooden floor. Normally he would have raged at how long it would take to sweep up the mess, but he was too shocked by the room’s transformation to pay it any attention.

 

“What is all of this?” he asked breathlessly, staring wide-eyed at the beautiful fairy lights strung up across the ceiling, bathing the room in a soft glow of rainbow colors. Nicholas gave him a sheepish smile.

 

“It’s Christmas,” he shrugged. “Since you didn’t get to spend it at home with your dad, I thought it’d be nice to bring it to you.”

 

“I thought you didn’t like Christmas?” Seiji inquired.

 

“It’s not that I don’t like Christmas, I’ve just never had much of a reason to celebrate it before now,” he argued.

 

“Where did you find all of this stuff?” asked Seiji, prodding a small, beat-up looking Christmas tree perched in the corner of the room.

 

“I saw Coach Lewis pulling boxes of decorations out of one of the storage closets a few weeks back,” he explained. “I went back this morning and found a couple of unopened boxes, so I borrowed them.”

 

Seiji raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Stole them, you mean.”

 

“I’ll put them back,” Nicholas promised. “I just thought they’d be put to better use here today. It’s not like anyone will be missing them. So, what do you think?”

 

Seiji gave the bedroom a scrutinizing once-over. It was an explosion of cheap plastic and mismatched colors. It was a truly hideous sight, but Seiji had never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

 

“It’s...festive,” he offered with a small smile. The nervous tension in Nicholas’ shoulders eased and he chuckled.

 

“That’s what I was going for,” he joked. He bit his lip and pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his back pocket. “I wrote something for you, too,” he said nervously as he unfolded the paper. Clearing his throat he began to read aloud, “Merci pour le meilleur Noël que j'ai eu depuis très longtemps. Je suis désolé, mon cadeau t'a rendu malade. Je voudrais me faire pardonner. Voulez-vous sortir avec moi? Je voudrais vous acheter un sundae de glace.”

 

Nicholas stumbled over the words and mispronounced some of them so badly that Seiji struggled to understand what he was trying to say. What he had managed to decipher, however, was that Nicholas was asking him out on a date. The translation was atrocious, but Seiji’s heart fluttered all the same. Nicholas was no Guillaume Apollinaire, but the beauty was in the effort, if not in its execution.

 

Nicholas stood nervously awaiting Seiji’s reply. Seiji opened his mouth to speak, desperate to say yes, but the words seemed to be lodged in his throat. He sighed and clenched his eyes shut, trying to overcome his nerves, to take a page out of Nicholas’ book and for once in his life speak honestly about how he really felt. He would just have to do it in his own way.

 

“Je vais te dire ceci en Français, parce qu’il est plus simple pour moi de savoir que tu n’aura aucune idée de ce que je vais te dire...”

 

Nicholas raised his eyebrows in surprise as Seiji began to speak in rapid, fluent French, but he listened with rapt attention as he tried to pick up the odd word that he understood. Seiji cast a disparaging look at Nicholas and waved his hand at him.

 

“Au moins, je l’aurai enfin dis tout haut. Tu me rends fou. Tu me rends fou, avec tes cheveux idiots et ton sourire en coin.”

 

“Cheveux?” Nicholas cut in, swiping his hand through his messy brown undercut. “Did you just insult my hair?!”

 

Seiji ignored Nicholas’ outburst and continued, determined to say what he needed to say before his courage failed him completely.

 

“Tu es trop bruyant éveillée et même endormi, il faut que tu ronfles, tu ne me laisses pas un instant de répit. Tu es sauvage, ardent, agaçant, drôle…” Seiji sighed and took a tentative step towards Nicholas. “Tu me rends fou et je suis fou de toi. Chacun de tes sourires me fait espérer qu’un jour l’un d’eux soit pour moi. Chacun de tes rires, je voudrais les avoir inspirés. Quand tu dors je me demande si tu rêves de moi. Tu penses que je ne te vois pas, qu’en te regardant c’est ton frère que je vois, mais c’est faux. C’est toi…”

 

Nicholas’ breath hitched as Seiji traced his thumb across his cheek before cradling the back of his neck in his hand. He braced himself for Nicholas to push him away but he didn’t. His eyes remained fixed, wide and expectant on Seiji’s. He swallowed hard and continued, his voice low and hoarse.

 

“Je te vois. J’aimerais que tu me vois à ton tour. J’aimerais connaître les mots qui expriment parfaitement ce que je ressens pour toi, en anglais ou en français. J’imagine que, parfois, les mots ne suffisent pas.”

 

He moved their lips incrementally closer, speaking barely above a whisper now, before declaring breathlessly, “I suppose if words aren’t enough, I ought to just show you how I feel.”

 

For the second time in his life, Seiji threw caution to the wind and pulled Nicholas into a tender kiss, his head and his intentions clear this time. He unconsciously held his breath as their lips touched, trying to gauge Nicholas’ reaction. He couldn’t help the shaky sigh of relief as Nicholas tilted his head and pulled Seiji closer, deepening the kiss. Any fears and uncertainties he had evaporated as Nicholas gently pressed his tongue to the seam of Seiji’s lips, requesting access, and Seiji gladly obliged, opening his mouth a little in an invitation to explore further. Every tangible thought in his mind evaporated as he felt Nicholas’ soft, silken tongue brush tentatively against his own. Yes, this kiss was definitely better than their first.

 

Nicholas’ fingers ran down Seiji’s spine and around his waist, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them and he could feel the rapid beating of their hearts against his chest. Seiji relished the feeling of Nicholas’ perfect, petaled, pliant lips rolling against his own, the way that they melted into each other’s touch, the hammer of his and Nicholas’ hearts and shaky breaths. Their kiss was all-encompassing.  If he thought last night’s kiss was perfection, it was nothing compared to this.

 

When they finally broke the kiss, Nicholas had a contented, dreamy expression on his face. He slowly opened his eyes and gave Seiji a lopsided smile.

 

“I have absolutely no clue what you just said, but it sounded hot,” he laughed breathlessly. Seiji smirked and rolled his eyes.

 

“I can teach you if you’d like?” he offered. Nicholas grinned mischievously.

 

“I’d say you’ve got a few things you could teach me,” he teased gently. He looked expectantly at Seiji. “So...is that a yes? You’ll go on a date with me?”

 

Seiji smiled and answered with another kiss, pulling him closer. Nicholas kissed back with equal enthusiasm, splaying his fingers through Seiji’s perfectly-styled hair and deliberately messing it up, but Seiji didn’t care—the feeling of Nicholas’ fingertips trailing along his scalp and down his neck sent a pleasant shiver down his spine.

 

The last thing in the world that Seiji had expected this year was to enjoy his first Christmas away from home, but even more unexpected was that Nicholas Cox of all people would be the reason for that. He pulled Nicholas towards his bed, unwilling to break the kiss. He was looking forward to what would, undoubtedly, be an even more enjoyable afternoon of getting to know each other better.

 

Merry Christmas, indeed.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation of what Nicholas says to Seiji (which is deliberately a poor translation because he's relying on the dictionary to translate!):
> 
> Thank you for you for the best Christmas I have had in a very long time. I'm sorry my gift made you sick. I would like to make it up to you. Will you got out with me? I would like to buy you an ice-cream sundae. 
> 
>  
> 
> Translation of what Seiji says to Nicholas:
> 
> I’m saying this to you in French because it’s easier for me knowing that you don’t know what I’m saying but at least I’ll finally have said it aloud. You drive me crazy. You drive me crazy with your stupid hair and your crooked smile. You’re too loud when you’re awake and even when you’re asleep you snore, I never have a moment’s peace from you. You’re wild, passionate, annoying, funny...you drive me crazy, and I am crazy about you. Every time you smile I wish that you were smiling at me. Every time you laugh, I wish that you were laughing at something funny I had said. When you sleep I wonder if you’re dreaming about me. You think that I don’t see you, that when I look at you I only see your brother, but that’s not true; I see you. I see you. I wish that you would see me, too. I wish I knew the right words to describe how I feel about you, in English or French. I suppose sometimes words aren’t sufficient.


	7. Epilogue

Dmytro Osharov tapped his foot impatiently and checked his watch again. It was 4:32 in the morning and Seiji was running late. He shouldn’t have been surprised, he knew that leaving his young student to his own devices for a few weeks over the Christmas holidays would more than likely result in his training falling by the wayside. Well, the start of the new year meant that it was the start of a new term, and Dmytro was ready to whip Seiji back into shape in time for the upcoming regionals. He checked his watch again and felt a stab of annoyance—it was now 4:33, he wasn’t normally this late...

 

A few moments later, the double doors swung open and he let out a sigh of relief as Seiji stepped through. His relief quickly turned to irritation, however, as Nicholas Cox entered the room holding Seiji’s hand. He glared at the offending gesture, but neither boy relinquished their grip as they approached him.

 

“Good morning, Coach,” Seiji greeted him with a polite nod. “Happy New Year.”

 

“Happy New Year, Dmytro!” Nicholas cried brightly, a shit-eating grin plastered across his face. “Did you have fun seeing your family in St. Petersburg?”

 

Dmytro cast Nicholas a disparaging look.

 

“Your father doesn’t pay me to train your boyfriend, Seiji,” he sneered. Nicholas snorted and rolled his eyes.

 

“Relax, Dmytro, I’m not here to disrupt your session,” he assured him. “I’ve got a new training partner.”

 

A few moments later, a bleary-eyed Bobby shuffled into the hall after them. He gave Dmytro a shy smile and a slight wave. Dmytro pursed his lips and turned his attention back to Seiji.

 

“Let’s get started. I want to see how you’ve faired in my absence,” he said brusquely, turning on his heel and marching towards the piste at the far end of the hall.

 

Seiji gave Nicholas a quick wink before following his coach to begin his morning training session. Nicholas slapped Bobby heartily on the shoulder and they moved over to one of the pistes on the opposite side of the hall to give Seiji and his coach room to train in relative privacy. Bobby stretched and yawned loudly as Nicholas did a few quick stretches before beginning their first sparring session of the day.

 

“Tell me again why you dragged me out of bed at this ungodly hour?” he sighed, thinking wistfully of his bed. Nicholas cast a furtive glance towards Seiji and back again toward his best friend.

 

“If you want to make the team next year—and if I want to move up from a reserve position—we need to start taking our training seriously,” he explained. “Seiji and I have been training together the last few weeks and Coach said she saw a marked improvement in both of our performances. I want to keep that up.”

 

“And this has nothing to do with being able to spend a bit of extra time in the company of your boyfriend?” Bobby teased lightly. Nicholas gave him a cheeky grin.

 

“Well, it’s not the _only_ reason I’m here,” he admitted. He tapped their épées together and slipped his saber on. “Come on, let’s get to it.”

 

The Christmas holidays had flown by quicker than either boy would have liked, but they had enjoyed being able to explore their fledgling relationship in peace for a time before the start of the new term. When the other students had returned at the start of the new year, they were quick to notice the change in Seiji and Nicholas’ relationship, although they seemed less surprised by the development than Seiji and Nicholas had been.

 

Despite the change in their relationship, the boys had kept up their routine of heading to the salle d'armes together for their morning training sessions, now with Bobby in tow. After a solid hour of sparring, Bobby called a time-out to catch his breath. Nicholas glanced over at Seiji and saw his coach packing up, their first training session for the day completed.

 

“I’m going to have a quick shower before heading to breakfast,” Bobby informed Nicholas, tossing his saber and glove into his bag. “You coming?”

 

“I’ll catch up,” he replied distractedly, watching as Dmytro marched out of the hall leaving Seiji on his own. Bobby smirked and shook his head.

 

“Whatever,” he laughed. “I’ll see you in class.”

 

Bobby waved Nicholas and Seiji goodbye, leaving them alone in the hall. Nicholas strutted over to Seiji, a mischevious grin spreading across his face.

 

“Was Dmytro giving you a hard time about me distracting you from your game?” he inquired lightly, bumping his and Seiji’s shoulders together. Seiji gave a careless shrug.

 

“He did mention it, but I demonstrated during my training session that, if anything, you’ve been more of a help than a hindrance when it comes to my concentration,” he replied evenly. Nicholas snorted and tapped Seiji lightly on the butt.

 

“I can think of a couple of things that we could do that would be incredibly distracting,” he teased, slipping his hand around Seiji’s waist and pulling him close. Seiji’s pale cheeks flushed pink.

 

“We shouldn’t do anything here,” he murmured, his dark eyes darting towards the entrance. “What if somebody caught us?”

 

Nicholas’ grin broadened and he pressed his lips to Seiji’s ear, “The first lesson of the day isn’t for another hour, we won’t get caught.”

 

Seiji bit his lip. After a moment’s consideration, he grabbed Nicholas’ hand and pulled him towards the storeroom. Messing around with Nicholas at the salle d'armes had crossed his mind a few times, he supposed now was a good opportunity to tick it off of his mental bucket list.

 

Seiji and Nicholas tumbled into the storeroom, crushing their lips together in a messy kiss before Seiji had even managed to close the door behind them. He grabbed blindly for the door handle and slammed it shut before pushing Nicholas against a large pile of crash mats piled in the corner of the room. Nicholas quickly hopped on top of the mats and wrapped his legs around Seiji’s waist, pulling him close, their lips and hands roaming wildly over each other. Nicholas pressed a long line of kisses down Seiji’s exposed neck, warmth radiating from the spot where Nicholas’ lips met his skin, slowly spreading through his whole body.

 

“Talk to me, Seiji,” Nicholas whispered against his skin. “You know I love it…”

 

Seiji smiled to himself before pressing his lips to Nicholas’ ear and said in a low, sultry voice, “Mon petit caneton, j'ai vraiment envie de toi...”

 

Nicholas hummed appreciatively and nipped Seiji’s neck in a delicate, teasing bite, silently encouraging Seiji to continue his verbal ministrations. Seiji swallowed hard and continued, his voice low and hoarse.

 

“Tu es l’homme de mes rêves,” he whispered. “Tes yeux j'en reve jour et nuit.”

 

Nicholas shivered and cupped Seiji’s cheeks, begging, “Embrasse-moi,” before capturing Seiji’s lips in another searing kiss.

 

Seiji sighed contentedly and melted into Nicholas’ arms, gladly losing himself to the kiss, to the moment, to Nicholas. Everything in his life up until now had been so careful and controlled...until he had met Nicholas. Finally, for the first time in his life, he was allowing himself to let go and just follow his instincts, and every instinct in his mind, body, and soul wanted Nicholas. It was as terrifying as it was liberating and he gladly submitted himself to the feeling.

 

Suddenly and without warning, the storeroom door flew open and they jumped apart from each other like they had been electrified.

 

“Boys,” Coach Williams greeted them stiffly, her expression stony. “I think I preferred it better when you two weren’t getting along so well.”

 

Nicholas tried in vain to smooth his messed up hair. He cleared his throat and began to speak, “Coach, I—”

 

“Save your breath Cox,” she cut in, giving him a look that immediately rendered him mute. “You’re going to need it.”

 

After giving them a verbal takedown for their immature behavior and for violating the sanctity of the salle d’armes, she revealed their punishment.

 

“Two hundred suicide sprints,” she declared. “Each.”

  
Nicholas and Seiji had shouted in protest but fell silent when her épée whizzed through the air and pointed in the direction of the rule board in the main hall. Seiji and Nicholas popped their heads out of the storeroom and followed Coach Williams’ line of sight until their eyes fell on a large wall of notices that bore the warning, ‘No kissing in the storeroom’.

 

“I put that one up especially for Aiden,” she explained. “Although, I never thought I’d catch you breaking the rules, Seiji.”

 

Seiji blushed and Nicholas smirked, nudging him in the shoulder, “I’m rubbing off on you, aren’t I?”

 

“Shut up!” he hissed.

 

“No time for a lover’s quarrel, boys,” barked Coach Williams. “Get those suicide sprints done! NOW!”

 

Seiji and Nicholas ran. Back and forth, over and over again, under the scrutinizing gaze of their coach all the while.

 

“Sixty more sprints to go, boys!” she reminded them, her arms crossed and an amused glint in her eye as she watched them panting hard, sprinting back and forth across the hall. Seiji’s chest burned and his legs ached but still, he ran until finally Coach Williams gave them the thumbs up and they both collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air. As much as he had enjoyed his little rendezvous with Nicholas in the storeroom, it wasn’t worth this kind of punishment.

 

Coach Williams loomed over them, looking somewhat appeased.

 

“Have we learned our lesson, boys?” she asked lightly.

 

“Yes, Ma’am,” they both gasped. Coach Williams gave them a curt nod.

 

“Good. Take a moment to catch your breath before heading to breakfast. You don’t want to miss your first lesson of the day,” she pointed an accusing finger at them both. “Don’t let me catch you two messing around in here again. What you do outside the salle d’armes is of no concern to me, but these four walls are sacred. If I catch you again, it’ll be six hundred suicide sprints. Do I make myself clear?”

 

“Yes, Ma’am,” they mumbled.

 

Nicholas propped himself up on his elbows and watched Coach Williams stalk out of the hall, leaving him and Seiji alone again. He shook his head in disbelief.

 

“Jeez, you think Coach would be happy that we’d finally kissed and made up,” he joked. Seiji gave him a withering look.

 

“You’re really annoying sometimes, you know that?” he said accusingly. Nicholas smirked and leaned over to Seiji to steal a kiss from him.

 

“You love it,” he teased. Seiji sighed and couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

 

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Mon petit caneton' means 'My little duckling'. It’s also a French term of endearment for your sweetheart, I thought it was appropriate.


End file.
